Species of the Month: January / February 2015

Hazel: Corylus avellana

We are looking for early signs of spring this Jan/Feb, after BSBI reported that an unusually high number of plants are flowering during the winter months this year (Telegraph article here). Although not strictly under-recorded in south Wales, with just under 5,000 records in the SEWBReC database, we are interested to learn if Hazel is flowering early throughout our area. Hazel flowers are easy to see, as they come in the form of catkins, as shown in photo above; more information about Hazel can be found on Arkive.

If you spot Hazel catkins during January and February (or see the species at any other time of year) please send us the record, ideally via our Species of the Month form on SEWBReCORD. Instructions on how to submit records are available here.